We're living in strange, alarming
times, and strange, alarming things are going on in our society. We live in a generation that
is guilty of having changed the truth of God into a lie, and
continually does so. A generation that worships and
serves the creature more than the creator. Now, that's not
an unreasonable charge. The religious world around us,
the Baptist, Papist, Pentecostal, Presbyterian, you name it, the
religious world around us is devoted to entertaining and pleasing
men, not to the glory of God. Now, if you just read any bulletin
you get, any religious paper you get, it testifies to what
I just said. This generation worships and
serves the creature, not the creator. And now we're beginning
to reap the whirlwind of God's wrath. Peter made a strange statement
once, strange to me. He said, judgment must begin
at the house of God. That's where it began, at the
house of God, among those who profess the name of God. And
now in the church, in society, And in our homes we are reaping
the whirlwind of God's wrath. Judgment which began at the house
of God has spread through all the rest of society and permeates
every day, every day. Those who will not hear the alarms
that God is sounding are just fools. And if you'll hear, you'll
hear. I've got some things to say that
you need to hear. Today, we, when I say we, I mean
our culture, our society, this generation, we, we defend will-worship
in the name of divine worship. Paul calls the religious world
in which we live, this religion that emphasizes the will, worth,
and work of the senate, Paul calls it will-worship. Read Colossians
chapter two. Today, men stand in pulpits like
this all over this town and call it divine worship. It's real
worship. Today, in our culture, in our
society, sexual promiscuity is defended in the name of moral
enlightenment. We're such an enlightened age.
We have such reason about us. Abortion is defended in the name
of moral freedom. We're pro-choice. We believe
women ought to have a right to choose whether she's going to
murder her baby or not. We're pro-choice. That's called
moral freedom. Homosexuality is defended in
the name of moral tolerance. Folks say it's just a moral thing
to do. It's just a moral thing to do to be tolerant of perversion
and deviant behavior in society. It's just a moral thing to do.
They're ever becoming more and more common in our society, all
of these things. Rape, brutality, and murder have
also become common. And I'm telling you, there's
a direct correlation. There's a direct correlation. These things
are even becoming common among children, pre-teen children. And the sociologists tell us
It's not their fault. I had a rather lengthy discussion
with a friend on one occasion a while back who has been convinced
that there are some people who have no ability to discern right
from wrong. And the sociologist would tell
us that all deviant behavior has got to be explained by declaring
everyone else to be guilty. The problem is not with that
fellow. He didn't do that because of something evil in him. The
problem is we've let them down. We've let folks down. Society
has let them down. We've let them fall through the
cracks of society is the wording that's used in our day. And so
the problem really is not a matter of moral guilt on the part of
the sinner, but rather a matter of moral guilt on the part of
society as a whole. Now you listen to these things. Last year, Eric and Lyle Menendez
murdered their parents with such cold-blooded brutality that it
shocked the whole nation. Weren't you shocked by it? Can
you imagine a teenage boy walking into, well just imagine Jay Hart
walking into Charlotte's bedroom emptying a shotgun in her face.
That's shocking, that's shocking. They did it, apparently, for
a little money. And yet a jury exonerated them
of guilt because they were manipulated into feeling sorry for those
boys. Earlier this year, a teenage
boy up in northern Kentucky slaughtered his whole family. slaughtered
the whole family, took a shower, and went to school like nothing
ever happened. Back in 1989, in Radcliffe, Kentucky, Tom and
Roxanne Siliski put their five-year-old daughter, Alexandria, into a
plastic bag and suffocated her. In 1992, Mary Fletcher murdered
her three-year-old daughter, Ella, and tried to murder her
four-year-old son. to collect a few thousand dollars
life insurance so she picks up the house. Last year, Marjorie Cottingham
in Franklin County took her newborn boy, put him in a garbage bag,
tossed him in a pond. And then Thursday night, after
a nationwide search for her two sons, Susan Smith shocked the
nation by confessing that she had taken those two boys, strapped
them in the back seat of her car, and drove them off into
a lake to a torturous, merciless, heartless, brutal death. And those boys drowned in that
lake. Now, how can anyone explain those
things? How can we explain or understand such barbaric inhuman
behavior. I listened to the news broadcast
interviewing preachers down in Union, South Carolina and other
parts of the country, and I didn't hear one preacher say anything
made any sense. Did you? I didn't hear one of
them say anything made any sense. And I suspect some of you wonder
how do you explain these things? How do you explain these things?
Not even wild beasts do such things to their young. Not even
wild beasts. Wild beasts protect their young,
but here are mothers who take their sons and daughters, and
with malice, forethought, and barbaric, inhuman, unbeastly-like
behavior, murder them. How can that be explained? Only
one answer can be found. that will explain acts so horrifying. They are acts performed by people
who have been given up by God in divine judgment unto vile
affections of their own depraved hearts. A people whom Paul describes
here in Romans 1 31 as being without understanding, covenant
without natural affection, impotent, unmerciful. Now really, these deeds should
not be as shocking to us as they are. In fact, I'm really shocked
that we don't read of more atrocities of this kind than we do. You stop and think for a moment.
These things are just the result, just the result of a society
that has been taught for 30 years, been taught for 30 years, that
if a woman gets pregnant and it's inconvenient for her to
have her baby, it's just reasonable that she should have the choice
to kill it. It's just reasonable. And let me ask you this, if it's
reasonable for a woman to murder her unborn child, because it's
not convenient to raise it, is it not reasonable for a woman
to murder her two, three, four-year-old child because it's not convenient?
It's reasonable. If women can murder an unborn
child without conscience, why not a born child? Now here's something even more
shocking. I found this even more shocking
than the fact that Susan Smith's committed those horrible acts
of murder against her sons. After committing the atrocities,
she retained, holds to, and hides in, I imagine with some measure
of security, a form of godliness. Isn't it amazing? A woman standing
with the blood of her sons on her hands, Talk about praying
and God's mercy and God's goodness. Isn't it amazing? As though indeed
she was walking acceptably with God Almighty. Now this event that has captured
the attention of our nation for the past two weeks should be
alarming to us. For this event is an exact fulfillment
of what the Apostle Paul said would come to pass in these perilous
last days. Turn over to 2 Timothy for a
moment. 2 Timothy chapter 3. This know also that in the last
days perilous times shall come. Dangerous, dangerous, dangerous
times. For men shall be lovers of their
own selves." Principal basis of doing everything. Lovers of their own self. I like
it. Makes me feel good and to hell
with everybody else. I like it. Lovers of their own
selves. Covetous. Boasters. Proud. Blasphemers. Disobedient
to parents. Unthankful. Unholy. Without natural
affection. Truth-breakers, false accusers,
incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors,
heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasure more than lovers of
God. And notice what he says. Lovers of pleasure more than
lovers of God. With their lips they profess
to love, know, worship, and walk with God, but they live in pleasure
pleasing their own selves. Having a form of godliness. Go to church Sunday morning,
Sunday night, Wednesday night, or whenever you meet. Read their
Bible, say their prayers, go through their rituals. Having
a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof. Now while this event is fresh
in your mind and mine, I want us, before we become hardened
to it, as we quickly do, so quickly. Before we become hardened to
it, I want us to learn from it. And the only way to do so is
to go to the Word of God. Now listen carefully to this
statement. We must never interpret the Word of God by what we read
in the newspaper. Don't ever do that. Don't ever
interpret the Word of God by events or experiences. But we
must interpret all events and all experiences by the word of
God. Now how on this earth can we
possibly understand what happened down in Union, South Carolina
last week? How can we possibly understand
that? I want to try to answer this
question. What should we learn from the murders of Michael and
Alexander Smith? I'm not going to keep you long,
but I've got a message with five barred arrows, and I've got them
all aimed directly at your heart, and I want to reach you. I want
to reach you. I want to, I want by God's Spirit
to speak directly to your heart, and I want to instruct you, and
I want to call you who yet know not our God, but yet live in
rebellion to Christ, to trust the Son of God. Now, I want to
give you these five things. I'll give them to you as quickly
as I can. First, the murder of these two boys, just babies,
by their 23-year-old mother, the age of my daughter, 23 years
old, is an undeniable demonstration
of the utter depravity of the human heart. That's right. When the news broke the other
day, Shelby and I were about to have
a bite to eat. As a matter of fact, I had just
taken her hand and we were about to have prayer. When we did, this is what I said,
Father, I thank you for graciously keeping us in measure from the
evil that's in us. Now preacher, you don't mean
that. But with all my heart I mean that. With all my heart I mean
that. You see, Susan Smith was cut from the
same bolt of cloth you were cut from. She made out of the same
stuff you're made out of. And she acted out in her life
what goes on in your heart and mind by nature. There is not a person in this
room, not a person in this room who is not capable of doing the
same thing she did in her same circumstances if God leaves you
to yourself, if God gives you up to your vile affections to
do that which is in your heart. Shelba said to me yesterday we
were Chatting about this, she didn't know I was planning to
preach on it. She said folks would be shocked to hear you
say that. That got on television. Well,
it's going on. And I wish the world would hear me. I'm telling
you, there's not one person here who wouldn't do what she did
if God just left you to yourself. Not one. Don't ever imagine otherwise. The heart is deceitful. above all things. I hear people say, I couldn't
do that. Oh, yes, you could. Oh, yes,
you could. The heart of man, not some men,
not most men, all men, not just men, the male species, but men
and women, the male, the human race, the heart of mankind is
full of evil and depraved utterly, so that there is not one good
thing in any man before God by nature, not one. Turn to Matthew
chapter 15. Matthew chapter 15. This is nothing new to you, but
it needs to be clearly emphasized. You young people, you think,
well, I wouldn't do that. You say to your mama and daddy,
mama, don't you trust me? I wouldn't do that. I wouldn't
do that. Don't be a fool and put yourself
in circumstances where you couldn't do it, because you would. You
would. Don't you understand? You can
trust me. You know I wouldn't. I couldn't
do anything like that. Oh, there's not anything you
won't do. if God leaves you alone. That's
the reason, Terry, mom and dad keep rains on you, because they
know in your heart is evil. Know it. We don't have enough
sense to recognize that there is nothing but evil in our hearts,
but we know that's there. Look here in Matthew 15 verse
19. For out of the heart, not out of society, Not out of the
slums, not out of the ghettos, not out of ignorance, not out
of poverty. Out of the heart! Proceed evil
thoughts. Which ones, all of them? Murders. Which ones, all of them? Adulteries,
fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. These are the things
that defile the man. What's in you? What's in me? God says the imagination of man's
heart is evil from his youth. Forwardness is in the heart.
It divises evil continually. When God saved us, this is the
condition in which he found us. Lost, ruined, spiritually dead,
and totally depraved at heart. Don't ever forget that. Look
into the rock which you're in and behold the pit from which
you've been digged. Nothing but evil. That's what we are. And
I'll tell you something else. Though now saved by God's grace,
every child of God in this world is still by nature a totally
depraved sinner. We must never forget that fact
or even temporarily overlook it. Thank God the blood of Christ
has washed away our sins. Thank God the righteousness of
Christ has been imputed to us so that we are forgiven and justified
in the sight of God Almighty. Thank God the Holy Spirit has
put within us a new holy nature, that holy thing in you which
is Jesus Christ the Lord. But don't ever be fool enough
to imagine that the old heart is gone. that the old nature
is dead, that the old man will never bother you again. Oh, don't
even think it. Don't even think it. Mark Henson back there, by nature
is flesh, is flesh, just like your pastor. And that which is
born of flesh is flesh. sinful, corrupt, vile flesh. And it won't change until flesh
goes to the grave. That's the reason Paul said,
O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body
of this death? I shouldn't have to offer one
argument to demonstrate that to any of you. You read the Word
of God and your mind runs in a thousand directions. and almost
always to evil. You try to pray and your heart sticks to yourself.
Your pride, covetousness, your ambitions for yourself. You try
to call on God and your mind runs rather than to heaven runs
to hell. Am I telling the truth? Is that
the way it is? That's the way it is. You think things you would never utter to a human
being. You'd never utter. You're a dog
that you can think of, but we're standing back there, I wouldn't
do that. Merle, anything you can think, you're morally capable
of doing. You get hold of that and you
quit popping your suspenders to me. I was listening to one
of the TV preachers this morning for just a few minutes, and this
is what he said. He said, it's hard to be humble. God is my father. I wrote a damn
now. He said, if God is your father,
that makes you little goblins. That makes you little goblins.
If your daddy's name is Jones, you're not a little brown, you're
a little Jones. And if your daddy's name is God,
if your daddy is the God, you're a little God. No. Thank God, God is my father,
God Almighty, full of grace and truth. And I'm his son, but I'm
big sinner, nothing else. nothing else. Secondly, when I think of the
murders of these two babies and other such horrifying things, I see and give thanks to God
for the blessed restraint of his holy law. Now you listen carefully. We rejoice to know that believers
are entirely free from the law. It is absolutely true that the
believer has absolutely no relationship to the law. The law has absolutely
no power over us, but that does not suggest at all that we see
no value or use for the law of God. With the Apostle, we know
that the law is good if a man uses it lawfully. Now, we're
not going to look at these pictures, but you can look them up if you
want to later. I want to show you that according to the Word
of God, the law of God has four specific purposes, four uses,
and these four things were to use the law to accomplish. First,
the law of God identifies sin. That's the only thing that can
identify sin. That's the only thing that can.
Years ago, Brother Pharoah Griswold preached to me one time, and
he made a statement, and it finally clicked. He said, what is it
that makes the conjugal relationship between a man and his wife to
be holy, and that same relationship between a man and another woman
to be unholy? What is it? God said so, and that's all. God lays down the rules. God
said so. By the law is the knowledge of
sin. Paul said in Romans 7, I had
not known sin but by the law. So that there is no basis of
moral decency, no basis of right and wrong, no understanding of
that which is righteous and that which is evil apart from the
law of God. And when society kisses the law
of God goodbye, society kisses moral decency goodbye, and throws
everything out the window except chaos. Secondly, the law of God
condemns men for sin by exposing our guilt. Paul said in Romans
3.19, Whatsoever things the law saith, it saith to them who are
under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world
may become guilty before God. Thirdly, the law of God points
guilty sinners to Christ by showing us our need of a substitute.
The law was our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ, that we
might be justified by faith. You understand that? The law
identifies sin, the law pronounces guilt, the law shows us the way
to Christ, shows us the necessity of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
And then, fourthly, I want you to turn to 1 Timothy chapter
1. 1 Timothy chapter 1. The law is useful by the threat
of judgment. Somebody says punishment, particularly capital
punishment, all those things, that's not a deterrent to crime.
Oh, yes, it is. Oh, yes, it is. God says that's
what his law's for. Look here in 1 Timothy 1 verse
8, We know that the law is good if a man use it lawfully, knowing
this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for
the lawless and disobedient. for the ungodly and for sinners,
for unholy and for vain, for murderers of fathers and murderers
of mothers, for manslayers, for whoremongers, for them that defile
themselves with mankind, for men-stealers, for liars, for
perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary
to sound doctrine. So the law of God is designed
by God to restrain the evil that's in man. So that when men live
under the threat of judgment, they're restrained from doing
the evil that's in their hearts by nature. Can you imagine what
it would be like to live in this world if men and women were not
restrained from doing everything that's in their heart? Can you imagine what it would
be like to live with Lindsey Campbell if he wasn't restrained
from doing everything that's in his heart? I'm going to tell
you something. You wouldn't be caught in the
same world with this man if he were trapped in an iron cage. You wouldn't be caught in the
same world with this man if God didn't restrain me from the evil
that's in me. That's just that. And I wouldn't
be caught in the world with you either. Thirdly, the events of
these past two weeks are, according to what we read in Romans 1 and
2 Timothy 3, direct results of divine judgment upon a generation
that lives with its fists in the face of God Almighty. The events of this past couple
of weeks show us the absolute certainty of divine judgment. What we see going on around us,
what we read in our newspapers every day, while the reporters are totally
ignorant of it, are reports of God's judgment. the reports of
God's judgment, forerunners of God's wrath. When I read of the tidal waves
sweeping Bangladesh, I say God did that in judgment. That's right. I know that's out
of step with society. That's out of step with the religious
world, but I worship a God who controls everything. God did
that. He didn't do it so the tidal
wave wouldn't come. When I read of starving Ethiopians in Ethiopia,
scattered throughout the Sudan and Africa, I read about the
famine, the starvation, the pestilence, the disease, God did that, this
judgment. And when I read of the moral decay of society, the utter absence of moral decency
in a society that cleans with tenacity, to a religious cloak,
a religious refuge of lies. I said, God did that. God did
that. God sent judgment. And men don't
know any better. And these things are just forerunners
of judgment to come. When men and women are given
up by God to their own reprobate minds to do what we are capable
of doing. The Bible. With one hand. Hold your Bible here and read
it. In other hand, hold your newspaper and read it, and understand these
three things, will you? Number one, there is a judgment
that falls upon obstinate sinners while they still live on this
earth. Romans 1 speaks of God giving
men up. You had it in Acts 28 this morning
in your lesson. Proverbs chapter 1 talks about
God. God says, I stitched out my hands.
I've called. You've refused. Therefore, I'm
going to fix it, so when you call, I'll refuse. You'll call
on me, and I'll sit back and laugh at you. When God shut the
door to the ark, not one drop of rain had yet fallen, but judgment
fell when God shut the door, because nobody had any hope left.
Look at all, you understand that? There is a judgment that falls
upon men before they fall into hell itself while they yet live
on this earth. and God fixes it so that they're
damned while they live. Secondly, there is an appointed
day of judgment that is yet to come. Acts 17 31 says that God
hath appointed a day when he will judge the world by that
man whom he's ordained in righteousness. Yeah, you're going to meet God
in judgment, I promise you. I'm going to meet God in judgment,
absolutely. And he's going to demand of us
perfection. And he's going to cast the sin
to hell if he sees any sin in us. And the only way to escape that
judgment is to have your sins punished and substituted and
be robed in the righteousness of God's own Son. So thirdly, understand this,
there is a place of refuge in which sinners flee, can hide
themselves from the impending wrath and judgment of God Almighty.
Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men,
come now to Jesus Christ the Lord. He's the refuge. Are you guilty? Has God in His
justice exposed your guilt, made you aware of your sin? Then I
bid you flee to Christ, like the manslayer would flee to the
city of refuse. Get up and flee to Christ. Get
up in your heart and flee up to the Savior. And I promise
you, you flee to Him, the justice of God will never touch you.
Never. Fourthly, above all else, This horrible act of brutality,
violence, and cold-bloodedness teaches and reinforces and causes
me to give thanks to God for the blessedness of his sovereign,
distinguishing grace. The only hope for this depraved,
vile race of The only hope there is for you who are without Christ
is if God in his sovereign grace will intervene in your life and
set you apart from the rest of the world. Only hope. Oh, how
I pray. I don't come here, go anywhere
else and beg sinners to do anything. But I beg God. I tell you what
I ask God to do. I ask God Almighty to take you
and break down the door of your obstinate heart and set himself
in you by his almighty grace. Bind Satan, cast him out and
enthrone Jesus Christ in your heart by the holy violence of
his grace. And I'll tell you what, if he
does, if God will do that for you,
the response of your heart will be faith in Christ. You'll believe
him. You'll believe him. But if God leaves you to yourself,
if God passes you by, you'll never believe him. You see, I recognize, and every
child of God recognizes, that the only distinction between
the believer and the unbeliever, the only distinction, the only
difference between the reprobate soul and the regenerate soul,
is the distinction that grace has made. That's all. We didn't
set ourselves apart. The scripture says, concerning
the Lord God, it is God who puts a difference between the Egyptians
and Israel. The Apostle Paul writes to the
Corinthians and to us, but we're just like
them. And he says in chapter 4, 1 Corinthians,
verse 7, who maketh thee to differ from another? Come on now, who makes you different? Who makes you different from
the Susan Bates or the Susan Smiths of this world? Think about
that Norman Bates movie. Who makes you different from
the Susan Smiths of this world? Huh? Who makes you different
from the Menendez boys of this world? Who makes you different? What have you received? What
do you have that you've not received? And if thou didst receive it,
why dost thou glory as if thou'st not received it? This is my testimony. And this is my constantly reaffirmed
experience. This is my message to you. This
is my hope. by the grace of God, I am what
I am. God made the difference in his
sovereign, distinguishing, electing love before the world began. God said concerning Don Ford, I'll be his God, he'll be my
He's mine. And he said, to hell, you can't
have him. You can't have him. God made the difference when
he nailed his son on the cursed tree 2,000 years ago. The Lord
Jesus Christ said, I laid down my life for Don Porter. I'm bearing his sin. I bear them away." And he said, the justice, you
can't have him. You can't have him. And God makes the difference
in his sovereign, providential grace, in what we call prevenient
grace. That's grace that goes before
and prepares the way for Ron Wood is sitting right where
he is this morning with a heart to worship God, rejoice in the
free grace of God, because God Almighty called you to be born
where you were born, raised where you were raised, influenced by
the things that influenced you to bring you to faith in Christ
in their sense. That's all. But what about his
will? If God had left you to your will,
you'd either be in hell or somewhere between here and hell. That's
all. But don't you realize, preacher, that man's got something to do
with this? I realize man's got nothing to do with this! Salvation
by God's free grace. God's free grace. God made the
difference by his sovereign regenerating power. The wind bloweth with
it. Now here's the sound thereof.
We can't not tell whence it cometh, nor whither it goeth. So is everyone
that's born of the Spirit. As many as were ordained to eternal
life believe. Just that many. Just that many. And God makes the difference
still in his marvelous preserving grace. I baptize some folks, and I declare
it looks like they don't last long enough to get dry. It's
just me and Al. See you later. Meet you at judgment. But some of you got something
that stuck with you. You got something that lasts. And Satan's tried repeatedly
to tear it from you. But if you last, If you last,
it'll be because you've been kept by the power of God. And if God keeps you, you'll
be kept. I was discussing with Brother Mahan several years ago
a mutual acquaintance with whom we were very concerned, and he made such a profound statement
as he is by God's grace so capable of doing, he said, well, if it's
God's, God'll take care of it. And if it's not, there'll be
no great loss. And if you're God's, if I'm God's,
God'll take care of us. He'll do it. And if we're not,
we won't be any loss to anybody. That's right. That's right, because we're nothing
but sin, nothing but corruption, sinners saved by God's free grace. One last thing, thinking about
the murders of Michael, three years old, and Alexander Smith,
14 months old, I've been called to think a little more fully
about the glory of the world to come. You see, I have absolutely no
hesitancy in saying this. While their murder was an act
of horrendous evil on the part of their mother, for which she
must stand before God, it was an act of great mercy. on the part of their Heavenly
Father. For it was by this means that the Lord God was pleased
to call two more of his elect home to glory. You see, I assert without reservation
and without fear of contradiction that all who die in infancy are
imbecility, are chosen of God, redeemed by Christ, born of the
Spirit and enter into glory. Let me give you a taste of what
I'm going to preach on tonight. Listen to this. The righteous
perisheth and no man layeth it to heart. The righteous is taken
away from the evil to come. Dear two boys, children of God
from eternity, redeemed by the Lord Jesus Christ. His righteousness is imputed
to them. Brought into this world through
the womb of an apparently reprobate woman, what lies ahead for them? God says, I'll keep on from that.
Come on home. I'll keep them from that. How can you be so sure, Doc?
Three reasons. David made a statement that God
the Holy Spirit put down in Scripture with regard to his dead son.
Now, you can talk about covenant family and covenant family salvation
all you want to, but David's boy was not part of a covenant
family. He was the son of an adulterous relationship that
resulted in murder. And David said, he can't come
to me, but I'll go to him. And if you think he was talking
about going to the grave, you're a fool. He was talking about
something with hope. He said, I'll go to him with
absolute confidence. He wiped his eyes. He quit crying. And he said to his servants,
boys, let's get about the business of God. God's taken care of it. The law of God declares in Deuteronomy
24, 16 that the son shall not die for the iniquity of the father. The soul that sinneth, it shall
die. The son shall not die for the iniquity of the father. Does
that mean that children are born innocent? No, they're born depraved.
They're born guilty of sin because Adam's sin is imputed to us and
Adam's sinful nature is inherited by us. But those who die as infants
and in imbecility are men and women who are children who do
not sin as a similitude of Adam's transgression. And they do not
suffer the wrath of God because of the sin of their father Adam.
The wrath of God poured out upon men because of their own sin.
Understand that? And thirdly, I say it because I know something by experience. of the gracious character of
God Almighty. One of these days, God will take those two boys, Michael and Alexander Smith,
and he'll set them before wandering worlds as monuments of his love,
trophies of his grace, and examples of his wisdom and goodness. While
lost religious men and women who thought they were so good,
screech and cry for the rocks in the hills above. Our two little brothers have
entered into a world of glory and bliss and peace, for they've
entered into a world in which there is neither sickness nor
sorrow nor pain, nor death, because they've entered into a world in which there is no sin. And for that, I envy them. Now, I urge you who are under
the wrath of God, who are yet without Christ, I urge you to flee to the Son
of God. Trust Him. He that believeth and is baptized
shall be saved. The book says so. Will you believe
it? Or will you persist in your rebellion,
in your obstinate unbelief, and be content to go to hell when
mercy's gate stands open before you? I call on you who are the Lord's,
always seek to view the apparently tragic events of life with a
firm faith in God's wise, unerring, and good providence. I can understand a little bit
about what's going on. God's saving his own. And when he wraps this thing
up, when he wraps this thing up, I'm convinced, I don't have any
question at all about this, he will take those very things
which Satan and the demons of hell have used in an attempt
to destroy his kingdom And he'll demonstrate how he used them
to build his kingdom. Everything. Everything. And one last thing. Children of God, don't ever forget
the debt you owe, the debt I owe, to the free grace of God in Jesus
Christ the Lord. I heard, probably years ago,
of one of the old Puritans, they could be a little bit pious in their humility, who
saw a frog in a field, and he just knelt down and sobbed, and
he said, oh, there but for the grace of God go I. And I heard one of our politicians
a while back speak about some man in poverty and rags, he said,
there but for the grace of God go I. I tell you, with regard to Susan
Smith and with regard to the legions
in hell, there but for the grace of God go I. Well, I hope that helps you to
understand Something about what's transpired in the last couple
of weeks. And I hope it'll help you to give glory to God for
what he's done for you in Christ. And I hope for you who are yet
without Christ, God's arrested your hearts. And you cannot,
you cannot find rest for your souls until you find rest in
Christ the Lord.